Tablet chair construction



P 15, 1969 w. H. SULLIVAN 3,467,432

TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 5. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4INVENTOR.

WlLLlAM H. SULLIVAN BY @14 m @9414 ATTORNEYS Sept. 16, 1969 w. H.SULLIVAN TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. WILLIAM H.SULLIVAN AT TORNEYS Filed Jan. 5, 1968 United States Patent 3,467,432TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION William H. Sullivan, Shaker Heights, Ohio,assignor to Dictaphone'Corporation, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation ofNew York Filed Jan. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 696,035 Int. Cl. A47b 39/00, 83/02US. Cl. 297-162 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present inventionrelates to furniture and more particularly to chairs of the type havinga writing tablet on one arm.

In most tablet chairs the writing tablet is a permanent fixture andeither forms an arm of the chair or is permanently mounted thereon. Suchconstructions interfere with the free movement of a person using thechair and require him to move into it with combined rearward andsidewise motion. Also, when the writing tablet is not being used itinterferes with the free movement of the arms and body of a personsitting in the chair.

It has heretofore been proposed to pivotally mount the writing tablet onthearm of the chair for swinging movement from a rearward inoperativeposition at the side of the chair to a forward operative positionoverlying the seat To this end, a connecting sleeve is mounted to slideon a rod fixed to the side of the chair arm in spaced relation theretoand having a circular disc projecting into a grooved track on the tabletto adapt the latter for sliding and rotating movement thereon. As aresult, the tablet may rotate and slide relative to the connectingmember, and the connecting 'member and tablet may slide relative to thearm of thechair. With the proposed construction there is no control ofthe motion of the tablet as it is raised and swung from its inoperativeto its operativeposition, and such uncontrolled movement of the, tabletis extremely hazardous to theoccu pant of the chair. Furthermore, thetablet must extend from one arm to the other for support, whichpreventsa person from entering or leaving the chair when the tablet isin its operative position. i .7

One of the objects of. the present invention is to provide an improvedconstruction and arrangement of elements for mounting a writing tableton a chair arm which facilitates its transfenfrom arearwardstoredposition at the side of the chair to an operative position overlying theseat.,.

Another object is to provide a chair of the type indicated,whichpositively controls the path of movement of the writing tabletasit is shifted from its inoperative to its operative position and reducesthe hazard of possible injury to the occupant of the chair. I

Still another object is to provide a tablet chair of the type indicatedwhichis of simple and compact construction, economic-alto manufacture,reliable in operation, and one which 'will permit a person to enter andleave the chai -while the tablet is in its operative position.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the followingdescription and drawings in which like reference characters denote likeparts throughout the several views; It' is to be expressly understood,however,

ice

that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not adefinition of the limits of the invention, reference being had for thispurpose to the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tablet chair incorporating the novelfeatures of the present invention and showing the writing tablet in itsretracted inoperative position at the side of the chair;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the side of the chair andshowing the construction for mounting the writing tablet on the arm ofthe chair and the manner in which the tablet is raised and movedforwardly;

FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 1 andshowing the tablet swung over the top of the arm to its operativeposition;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2 toshow the detail of the hinge and a stud projecting from one of theleaves into a track on the writing tablet;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the tablet rslised and movedforwardly relative to the arm of the 0 air;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing the writing tablet foldedover the arm of the chair to an operative position; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on line 7-7 ofFIG. 2 and showing the, laterally projecting head on one of the hingestuds in interlocking engagement with the T-shaped slot in the track atthe rearward side of the tablet.

While the writing tablet 10 of the present invention may be applied toother similar articles of furniture, it is shown applied to aconventional chair 11. The chair comprises legs 12, 13, 14 and 15 bracedby cross-struts 16 and 17 and supporting a seat 18. Arms 19 and 20extend from the upper ends of the front legs 12 and 13, respectively, toan intermediate location on the rearward legs 14 and 15. Rear-ward legs14 and 15 extend upwardly beyond the arms 19 and 20 and the extensionsare con nected by cross pieces 21 to form a back.

In accordance with the present invention the tablet 10 is hingedly andslidably mounted for upward and for ward and then swung over the arm ofthe chair in a controlled path from its inoperative stored position atone side of the chair to an operative writing position overlying theseat at one side thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 the tablet 10 is mounted on the chair 11 by apiano type hinge 25 having one leaf 26 attached to the outer side of thechair arm 19 by means of a plurality of fasteners 27, shown in the formof screws.

The opposite leaf 28 of the hinge has a pair of headed studs 29 and 30(see FIGS. 2 and 7) projecting therefrom into a pair of parallel tracks31 and 32 on the side of the tablet 10 adjacent the arm. As shown, eachof the studs 29 and 30 is of rectangular shape with rounded ends and hasside flanges interlocking with the tracks. The tracks 31 and 32 may beformed on the surface of the writing tablet 10, but in the illustratedembodiment they are shown in recessed grooves 33 and 34 in the tabletand attached thereto by means of fasteners 35 such as screws. As shownmost clearly in FIG. 7, each track 31 and 32 is formed with a T-shapedslot and each of the headed studs 29 and 30 are of a corresponding T-shape in cross section and form keys interlocking with the tracks butpermit relatively sliding movement.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tracks 31 and 32 are inclined upwardlyand forwardly to the top and bottom edges of the tablet 10 so that whenthe tablet is raised relative to the studs 29 and 30 on the attachedhinge 25,

it is moved forwardly from the position illustrated in full lines to theposition illustrated in dash lines in FIG. 2. When the tablet 10 is inraised position illustrated in FIG. 5, it may then be rocked on thehinge 25 to overlie the top of the chair arm 19 as shown in FIG. 6 whichwill hold it in its operative position overlying a portion of the chairseat 18. One form of the invention having been described in detail, themode of operation is now explained.

When the writing tablet 10 is in its rearward inoperative positionillustrated in full lines in FIG. 1, the chair is open so that a personmay sit in it without any interference. When desired, the Writing tabletmay be raised from the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to thatillustrated in FIG. 2 by sliding it and its spaced parallel tracks 31and 32 upwardly relative to the headed studs 29 and 30 projecting fromthe leaf 28 of the hinge 25. Because of the rigid attachment of thehinge 25 to the chair arm 19, the writing tablet 10 moves forwardly asit is moved upwardly in a controlled path as governed by the inclinedtracks 31 and 32 and relatively fixed studs 29 and 30 as shown in FIG.2. At any time during the raising of the tablet 10 it may be folded overthe top of the arm 19 from the position shown in FIG. 5 to that shown inFIG. 6 to provide a writing surface. The movement of the tablet 10during such folding movement is also controlled by the studs 29 and 30projecting from the fixed hinge 25 and the tracks 31 and 32 held infixed relation on the tablet so that the entire movement of the tabletrelative to the chair arm 19 reduces the hazards which would result fromany uncontrolled movement thereof.

As will be observed by reference to FIG. 3, the writing tablet 10 in itsoperative position only projects inwardly from the arm 19 a relativelyshort distance so that the occupant may slide out of the chair while thetablet is in operative position. However, if the tablet interferes withthe movement of the occupant he may easily and quickly move the tabletfrom its forward operative position over the seat to its rearwardinoperative position at the side of the chair by merely rocking thetablet to an upright position on the hinge 25 and then lowering theraised tablet along the side of the chair. The entire seat is then openfor the occupant to leave the chair without interference.

It will now be observed that the present invention provides an improvedconstruction and arrangement of elements in a tablet type chair whichfacilitates its transfer from a rearward stored position at the side ofthe chair to an operative position overlying the seat. It will also beobserved that the tablet type chair of the present invention positivelycontrols the path of movement of the writing tablet to reduce the hazardof possible injury to the occupant of the chair during a transfer fromits inoperative to its operative position, and vice versa. It will stillfurther be observed that the present invention provides an improvedtablet type chair which is of simple and compact construction to adaptit for economical manufacture and one which is reliable in operationwhile 4 changes may be made in the construction and arrangement ofelements without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A tablet chair of the type having a seat and an arm at one side witha writing tablet on the arm, the combination with said chair and writingtablet of at least one hinge for pivotally mounting the tablet on thearm for controlled movement from an inoperative stored position at oneside of the chair to an operative position overlying the seat, saidhinge having one leaf attached to the side of the chair arm, theotherleaf of said hinge having rigid studs projecting therefrom, and saidwriting tablet having spaced parallel tracks extending diagonally to atleast one of the edges of the tablet whereby to adapt the tablet to bestored in a retracted inoperative position at the side of the chair andto be moved with a combined upward and forward motion as controlled bythe studs and tracks and folded over the arm of the chair to anoperative position forwardly of its stored position.

2. A chair having legs, a seat, an arm at one side of the seat, a hingehaving one leaf attached to the side of said arm, the other leaf of saidhinge having spaced rigid studs projecting therefrom, a writing tablethaving spaced tracks into which the studs on the hinge leaf project toconnect the tablet for sliding movement on the arm, and said tracksbeing inclined to at least one edge of the tablet so that the tablet maybe moved downwardly at one side of the chair to a retracted inoperativeposition and moved upwardly, forwardly and over the arm in a fixed pathas controlled by said rigidly located studs and tracks to a forwardoperating position overlying said seat.

3. A chair in accordance with claim 2 in which the hinge is a pianohinge extending through a substantial portion of the length of thetablet.

4. A chair in accordance with claim 2 in which the studs have headsprojecting laterally, said tracks on the tablet having flanges overlyingthe laterally projecting heads on the studs, and said heads being ofrectangular shape and having the same inclination as the tracks relativeto the tablet to prevent any angular movement of the tablet relative tothe studs while permitting relative sliding movement therebetween. I

5. A chair in accordance with claim 4 in which the tracks on the tablethave T-shaped slots, and the rectangular shaped heads on the studs havea corresponding T- shape in cross section. l

References Cited HUNIT'ED' sT TEs PATENTS I 1,196,050 8/1916 wa kins. 297 ,162 1,217,231 2/1917 Soper 297 x 1,749,937, .3/1930 Dettenborn siz-322 3,261,641 7/1966 Black etal. ,297 6z 3,292,972 12/1966

